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I 'm a huge fan of the original Upstairs Downstairs, and have watched it, in its entirety, three times. From this new series I've only watch one episode, and it is the last I'm ever going to watch. To start with, there's the loud musical score that's tiresomely woven throughout the entire run-time. It aims to give you a comic prelude before a comic moment, a dramatic overtone before something somber happens, and in general the impression that you wouldn't understand if people are happy or sad without some kind of a musical instrument to tell you. I bet the musical director's experience came from watching Leave IT To Beaver and Bugs Bunny.
The choice between who would play the masters and who the servants was probably made with a toss of a coin: there seems to be no difference in acting style or class between the two groups. And when I say "acting style" I use the term loosely, because I'm yet to see any acting taking place. But who could blame the actors when they are made up like wax figures, and when the producers think that name-dropping (Wallis Simpson, the King) is a good substitute for a plot? There is also no realism in the series. The chauffeur tells the master's sister-in-law that he would address her as a lady when she behaves like one (her crime was to enter the front seat of the car instead of the back seat). Can you imagine any of the servants in the previous series say that? Masters and servants seem to be palsy-walsy in this series, which makes them even harder to tell apart.
Jean Marsh should have known better than to appear in this pale melodrama and give it her stamp of approval. But then, as she is asking the audience to accept that Rose Buck aged 40 years between 1930 and 1936, I wouldn't put too much stock in her judgment to begin with.
score 1/10
eightie 31 August 2011
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw2482120/ |
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17-1-2021 11:13:12